Field
This disclosure is generally related to efficient file exchange in an electronic communication. More specifically, this disclosure is related to a method and system for facilitating secure sharing of a file using multiple communication services.
Related Art
With the advancement of computer and network technologies, various operations performed by users of different applications have led to extensive use of web services. This proliferation of the Internet and Internet-based user activity continues to increase efficiency of electronic communications, such as email or chat. For example, a user may need to share a data file with another user via electronic communication using an application (e.g., email applications running on different platforms or web-interfaces running on different browsers in different operating systems). To ensure safety, the application can use an encryption on the file based on a key (e.g., a public key or a symmetric key). However, such encryption techniques require agreement between the sender application and the recipient application. In addition, such keys can be compromised.
A user can also store the file in a cloud storage service provider (which can also be referred to as a cloud provider). A user can upload and access the file via the Internet. This “anywhere, anytime” model has made cloud providers a popular choice for data storage. The user can obtain a publicly accessible link and share the link via the electronic communication. However, since such a link is publicly accessible, if the communication is compromised, the file becomes accessible. In addition, uploading data to a cloud provider may impose limitations on the data, which can include data mining and information gathering from the stored data. As a result, if the document includes sensitive information (e.g., a Social Security number), the cloud provider may gain access to that information.
Although a number of applications and cloud providers offer file sharing services, some problems still remain in efficiently sharing a file in a secure way.